According to The New York Times' opinion columnist Frank Bruni, the Republicans' spin gives Democrats a good chance at winning the government shutdown battle.
Bruni says that despite Democrats' "fierce internal agreements" and "clumsiness with messaging," they "have a shot, because whatever their ineptness, it’s rivaled by Republicans’ incoherence."
Citing Senate Majority Leader John Thune's (R-SD) warning that the shutdown was emboldening President Donald Trump's "dyspeptic" Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, Bruni argues that their MO, "work with Republicans in Congress to save America from Republicans in the White House" "defines oxymoronic."
"Subtract the “oxy” and it fits that bill, too," he says. And while Thune and Republicans point at Democrats to pass legislation to continue to fund the government, Bruni says, "Trump and Vought veritably cackle with glee about an 'unprecedented opportunity' (the president’s words) to emaciate the federal work force and starve federal projects."
The Republicans' arguments, Bruni explains, are not only oxymoronic, but inconsistent.
"So Republicans in aggregate are saying that it’s irresponsible of Democrats to interrupt the functioning of government, but that the government should perform many fewer functions. They’re presenting themselves as the protectors of government while staging an assault on it," he writes.
Referencing Trump's use of manipulated, AI deep fake videos to send his messages, Bruni says "They’re doing it flamboyantly and crudely, by which I mean on social media. They’re doing it punitively, as Trump and Vought exult in sticking it to programs favored by Democrats and states run by Democrats."
This presents Democrats with "some slender hope," Bruni says, especially for the 2026 midterm elections, which Republicans are already secrety fretting.
"While such irreverence and vengeance have their ardent MAGA audience, they offer nothing to voters in the middle — you know, the ones who may well decide the most competitive House elections next year and who are smarting from, if not seething about, grocery prices that have not, as Trump promised, come down," he says.
Trump's threats of mass firings and "taking away federal workers' paychecks," aren't helping either, Bruni says.
"Republicans can hardly shame Democrats for that when the Trump administration is focused on how many of those services and paychecks are needless."
Healthcare is also the Republicans' achilles heel, Bruni explains, saying "Republicans are on the wrong side of public opinion about health insurance, a fact evident in Thune’s and other Republican lawmakers’ assurances (no doubt empty) that they’re willing to negotiate with Democrats about health care once the shutdown ends."
A new poll saying that that 78 percent of Americans supported the extension of the Affordable Health Care (aka Obamacare) Act tax credits while only 22 percent opposed it doesn't mean that the Democrats will emerge from the shutdown with "tangible concessions" from the Rpeublicans, Bruni says, but, it does tell him "that the sadists in the White House should be doing less feting and more fretting."